Spring is here and it’s time for the latest issue of Factor magazine, the mammoth quarterly digital magazine on all things future. Available to read on any device for free, it’s your go-to destination for serious thought, and the occasional bout of silliness, about the world of tomorrow.

With 33 pages of content there is a huge range of topics to read and explore, and listing every single one here would be a bit silly. Instead, here’s our pick of the five must-read articles that every future fan needs to check out.

Blockchain seems to be finding its way into everything at the moment, and the music industry is no different. Which is why in this issue we speak to Choon, the company using the technology to transform the music industry, and pay artists better in the process. Are we entering the post-record label age? Quite possibly.

In what is probably the silliest article in this issue, we ponder a reality where Elon Musk really does create a zombie apocalypse in order to sell Boring Company flamethrowers. Why would he do such a thing? How would it turn out? And how would Musk create zombie anyway? All these questions are (sort of) answered.

Bees are vanishing but crops still need to be pollinated, lest we see a serious impact on our global food supplies. In this serenely presented article we consider the pros and cons of supplementing bees with robotic doppelgangers. Yes, this will bring back memories of a certain Black Mirror episode.

In this animated spectacular, we take you on a trip to the future, to look at what travelling could be like in a decade. From passenger drones to driverless cars and hyperloop to supersonic planes, there will be a lot of ways to travel, some of which will have a serious impact on how we live.

Self-improvement is one of the universal goals of humanity, so why not make our brains better? In a mind-blowing exploration of how we could advance ourselves, we hear from Kernel’s Bryan Johnson about the company’s cognitive enhancement plans.

Footage of fatal crash involving self-driving Uber released

The Tempe Police Department has released the first footage of this week’s fatal crash involving a self-driving Uber. Police had previously said that the Uber, which had a safety driver inside, did not slow down before it struck the victim, something the footage appears to confirm.

Police ask Google to help in the pursuit of two gunmen

Google may have helped solve two separate crimes committed roughly one-a-half years apart. According to reports, Raleigh police presented Google with warrants for data from all the mobile devices that were within a certain distance of the respective crime scenes at the time the crimes were committed.

Teenager hacks "tamper-proof" cryptocurrency wallet

A hardware wallet designed to store cryptocurrencies, and touted by its manufacturer as tamper-proof, has been hacked by a British 15-year-old. Saleem Rashid said he had written code that gave him a back door into the Ledger Nano S, which would allow a malicious attacker to drain the wallet of funds.

Tooth-mounted sensor tracks what your're eating

Scientists at Tufts University have developed a wireless sensor that can be attached onto a person’s tooth to track what they are eating and drinking. In their study, the researchers describe how the sensor is able to transmit information about a person’s glucose, salt and alcohol intake.

Scientists develop AI software that can reproduce like a living thing

Computer scientists have created a neural network that continually self improves by mimicking the biological self-replication process. “Self-replication is a key aspect of biological life that has been largely overlooked in Artificial Intelligence systems,” the scientists are quoted as saying.

Boring Company unveils proposed ‘Loop’ route

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has unveiled the first leg of its hyperloop project, which is a ‘Loop’ transit system to travel between Washington D.C. and Baltimore in 15 minutes. The Boring Company’s main project is its network of tunnels under Los Angeles, where it already started digging last year.